Prophetic Bulletin- Hope & Change - Rick Joyner

Rick Joyner

Prophetic Bulletin- Hope & Change

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MorningStar Prophetic Bulletin #90 - November 5, 2014

Rick Joyner

          No President has been so resoundingly rebuked by the American people as was done with the Elections of 2014. The House now has its largest majority in history, and it is Republican. Republicans won control of the Senate. There are Republican governors in most states. On every level, Republicans won a huge victory this year.   

          President Obama himself said that his policies were on the ballot in every race, and by an overwhelming majority America rejected them. Hope is rising again, and it could carry through the 2016 elections if there is real change.

         The Republican Party now has a mandate from the American people. Every poll showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans think that the country is off track, with a large percentage “angry” about it. Now there are two main questions that should be answered very quickly with the seating of the new Congress:

1) Will the Republican leadership lead with the resolution needed to fulfill their mandate?

2) Will President Obama now work with Congress to make the mandated changes or will he become an obstructionist President?

         President Clinton accepted his rebuke in the last midterms of his Administration. He worked with the Republican Congress and its “Contract with America.” The result was the balancing of the budget and the paying down of the national debt for the first time in memory. We also had the largest reduction of Americans on welfare, and the foundation was laid for one of the longest and strongest economic expansions in recent times that unfolded during the Bush Administration. This was all Republican led, but Clinton took much of the credit for it because he read the handwriting on the wall and did the smart thing. Because of this, Clinton remains one of our most popular former Presidents, but more importantly, the country benefitted.

        Obama has the same choice as Clinton. If he changes and works with Congress, he could leave office far more popular than he is now and continue growing in popularity, potentially becoming a force in American politics for a long time. If he doesn’t get the message and act accordingly, it will get very ugly, and impeachment will not be off the table for the abundance of crimes committed by his Administration.

        There is little doubt that the President will come out sounding conciliatory, and maybe even seem humbled by this election. If this is so, let’s pray that it is real. Even so, a major reason for this historic rebuke of a President by the people is that far too often his words have been different from his actions. The American people are obviously not as naïve as we were assumed to be, and we will now require much more than words from him and from the leaders of Congress.

        President Obama has been one who seems to equate words as actions. If the White House blames the defeat on bad messaging or poor candidates, we can assume he will become an obstructionist President. This will be bad for America, but even worse for him and the Democratic Party. After the American people have spoken so loudly and clearly, if the President becomes defiant we will likely see the Democratic Party trying to distance itself further from the President. If they do not, they know their thrashing will continue in 2016.

        With a President defiant of the obvious will of the people and Democrats becoming more independent, this could very well mean Democrats siding with Republicans to overturn Presidential vetoes. It could also see many Democrats siding with Republicans who are calling for deeper investigations into the long list of potential abuses of power, or worse. Already Democrats are pointing at the White House as the reason for this huge drubbing by the voters. The President’s humility or defiance will tell us a lot about the potential difficulty or ease with which we go into the future leadership of the country.  

         Some Democrats are also pointing a finger at Hillary Clinton for this resounding defeat. The highly visible candidates she campaigned for were beaten, and some by huge margins. Hillary may have been the biggest casualty of the 2014 Elections.

Learn From History

         Recently books were being released about the death of conservatism in America and the demise of the Tea Party Movement. These were obviously premature. However, it would also be premature to believe that liberalism is now dead. The Democratic Party may now be in disarray and its leadership cloudy, but if the Republican Party does not bring real change with this opportunity, then it will not likely get another chance like this one. It too has much at stake.

The Issues

         According to the exit polls, the main issues with voters were, in this order:

1) the economy (45%)

2) healthcare (25%)

3) illegal immigration (14%)

4) world affairs (13%)

         When asked if they thought the country was going in the right direction, Americans said “NO” by a 2 to 1 margin. Nearly 80% are worried to very worried about the future. Today we should have more hope, and we should be encouraged that the American people are waking up to and rejecting the direction in which the country has been taken.

The Economy

         It is perceptive that many are very bothered by the economy while the government is touting recovering economic conditions. There is much that is extremely wrong with our economy and with the numbers the government is putting out about it. The people feel more than the fact that they have not had a pay raise in a long time. There are serious economic tremors that all should be feeling, but many of our leaders seem not to be. That is probably the biggest reason so many are alarmed about the economy.

Healthcare

         The Affordable Care Act (AFC) is not affordable. I have about 135 people on staff, and as we have been briefed on the coming requirements of the AFC, we must look at cutting the staff almost in half to be able to afford it. We are not alone, and this is going to hit fast if the new Congress does not deal with this quickly. This is still one of the biggest yokes keeping our economy from taking off as it could.

Illegal Immigration

         Illegal immigration could move up this list fast. Dealing with it in a reasonable but effective way may not only be critical to the economy and our way of life, but also our lives. You can believe terrorists are pouring across our porous border every day, and their attacks will not be long delayed. Securing our border is essential for our security and maybe even our continued existence as a free nation. It is that serious. We can expect the realization of this to become apparent soon. Securing the border does not mean ending immigration, but simply controlling who we let in. This must be addressed immediately, or we will pay a terrible price.

World Affairs

         Name a single nation with which we have better relations since Obama took office and made Hillary Clinton Secretary of State. Remember the “reset” in our relations with Russia? Remember the Arab Spring? It’s now called ISIS. We could continue, but we don’t have the time or space here.

Resolve With Patience

         You can’t turn an aircraft carrier like you can a speedboat. We’ve been turning hard to the left for the last six years, and we won’t get back on course overnight. It is right to have high expectations and to keep our representatives accountable to their promises, but we don’t just need to turn, we need to turn with a clear strategy and wisdom. To jerk too far to the right too fast could lead to other more dangerous problems.

         The key words here are “too far” and “too fast.” A turn to the right is certainly mandated, and in order to get back to who we are as Americans, it is necessary. To effectively deal with the threats to our existence that are still gathering against us, it is imperative that we throw off the extreme devotion to political correctness that has blinded us from seeing or confronting some of the biggest threats.

Conclusion

         After elections that seemed to go in our favor, Christians and conservatives have often relaxed. Some would just go back to sleep. If that happens now, it can prove fatal. The present momentum is encouraging, but we need more momentum. We need endurance and the wisdom Joshua had after his first defeat.

         I said that correctly. After the astonishing victory that Joshua led the people in at Jericho, he led them to another astonishing defeat at the little town of Ai. Even after the sin in the camp was exposed, Joshua could not defeat this little town. When he held the spear out, Israel would prevail, but when he relaxed and drew the spear back, the enemy would prevail. He learned not to draw the spear back until the enemy was totally defeated.

          This election was a great victory, but it is just the beginning of getting America back on course. This is no time to let up, and this is no time to become arrogant. 

Prophetic Wisdom for Braving the Coming Storm - R. LOREN SANDFORD

Prophetic Wisdom for Braving the Coming Storm

11/4/2014 R. LOREN SANDFORD

U.S. Capitol Building (Flickr/Roman Boed)

I have been hesitant to release this publicly since I began sensing it some months ago, but I feel that at this point I must. Christians must be forewarned and positioned to be peacemakers, reconcilers and purveyors of hope in the face of the trouble to come.

I have long known that at some point Barack Obama would face a crisis to his presidency that would rock the nation. I expected it in the third year of his administration, but I confess that I've never been good at hearing specific dates from the Lord. I now expect it beginning in the third and into the fourth years of his second term. Many issues have already surfaced, as have many scandals that would have sunk any previous president, but so far none of these has seemed to coalesce into something worthy of "crisis." Witness the Fast and Furious debacle, the truth of what actually happened at Benghazi that is now surfacing via those who were on the ground during the attack, the scandals surrounding the Secret Service (from soliciting prostitutes to incompetence that allowed a runner to get all the way into the White House), as well as the IRS scandal and the resignation of its director, Lois Lerner. It has been a growing list. I have sensed with some dread that, in these last two years of the current administration, corruption will be exposed and turmoil will erupt at such a level and depth that we simply won't know how to deal with it.

It would be a mistake to make the president responsible for all of this, although he bears a significant portion of the responsibility, as do his predecessors. No matter what anyone tries to make of it, know that this is not a racial crisis, but rather a crisis of fundamental integrity, and that it extends to both sides of the congressional aisle. What is coming is the culmination of decades of erosion in the moral fiber of the nation, our rejection of God, of godly principles and the relentless pressure of a culture of self that leads us to vote for whoever promises to give us the most at the expense of personal responsibility. Additionally, we increasingly tend to elect those who advocate immorality in the name of individual rights and freedoms. In the end, God's ways work and man's ways don't, but mankind has always had a difficult time accepting this as truth.

The enemy of our soul has always been an opportunist who stands ever ready to fill the vacuum left by godly people who either abandon the biblical standard or neglect to stand forth and pay the price that raising the prophetic cry against immorality and corruption exacts. Charismatic and evangelical Christians, committed to the historic faith, will pay an ever higher price for our stand in the days to come. How we choose to respond will make the difference between being permanently marginalized on the one hand or walking in victory on the other (and ultimately enjoying favor with God and man) in the midst of a time of increasing turmoil.

It's time to play our role as prophetic Daniels to our Nebuchadnezzars and as Josephs to our Pharaohs. As they did, we can become assets to a lost world, demonstrating the love and power that flow from our Savior and our Father God without compromising our integrity or entering into idolatry. It's time to position ourselves to receive and minister to a growing stream of the hurting and the broken without judgment, condemnation or bitterness. More than ever, it will be love and grace that win the lost, not cries of judgment and destruction. It's time for us to shine.

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Love For His People Editor's Note: On Oct. 30 I shared my thoughts about the need for Christians to stand strong, in my NOW THINK ON THIS message, "No More Restraints?" - in reference to Christians standing for what is right against the falling walls that once stood on a strong foundation here in America. 

You can read that here: Now Think On This blog or see the message on this blog or the link to all my Now Think On This messages in the left hand column. 

Steve Martin, Editor

Americans in Israel Concerned About US Foreign Policy

Sarah Haber, 24 - American in Israel

Americans in Israel Concerned About 

US Foreign Policy

By Julie Stahl and Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau

Saturday, November 01, 2014

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Americans living in Israel are already voting in midterm elections. CBN News visited one center where Americans could turn in their ballots.

"We've helped them, informed them how to fill out their ballot," said Matt Solomon, director of iVoteIsrael, a group that encourages Americans living in Israel to register and vote in U.S. elections.

"We haven't chosen the candidates for them. That's their business," Solomon told CBN News. "But on the other hand we're here to lend a hand and help them participate in the election."

Americans in Israel have a unique vantage point --- living in a Western-style nation in the Middle East surrounded by enemies, which some say the United States often doesn't understand.

We asked Americans here why they're voting and what's important to them in the elections.

"First of all, I care about America. And second of all, I think that the elections are not only going to influence American citizens but also the entire world," said Sarah Haber, 24. Haber has lived here since 1997.

Jonathan Druckman, originally from Portland, Oregon, is finishing a master's degree in political science.

"Israel's security is important, the threat of a nuclear Iran and the more approximate threats. But I also care deeply about what's happening in the United States. So when I vote, I vote with the interests of both countries at heart," Druckman said.

Yaffa Brochin

"One of the most important things is to get a balanced government in the United States, to not have Obama calling all the shots," said Yaffa Brochin, originally from Chicago.

The "greatest concern" for Malka Kideckel "is the faltering relationship between America and Israel."

Some say those relations are faltering because President Barack Obama doesn't understand the Middle East or history.

"He's been very naïve with us thus far. He's been demanding concessions from us time after time and not demanding, not receiving anything in return from the Palestinians -- and the way he's reacted to the situation in Syria, the situation in Lybia, the situation in Iran," said Daniel Sturman, a father of three from New Jersey.

"I've made the joke many times that Obama never had any experience in foreign policy so he had the CIA send him a list of the countries in the world in the order of how friendly they are to the United States and then he hung it on the wall backwards by accident," Sturman added.

Kideckel said Israel has been a "true and trusted friend, ally to the United States and we've been true blue, we've been trusted, we've held back our fire in, we've held back defending ourselves in situations such as the Gulf War."

Brochin said the trouble isn't just about anti-Israel sentiments.

"This is about anti-Semitism," she said.

David Bogenreif is a Christian from Iowa who has lived in Israel for decades. He said relations are strained between Israel and the United States.

"It looks a bit difficult with the Iranian issues, the nuclear bomb, other political issues happening," Bogenreif said.

He also said there's trouble because current political plans don't line up with the Bible.

"I don't believe in a two-state solution," Bogenreif said. "The Land [Israel] was given to the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jewish people."

And does God figure into the equation in the Middle East?

"Absolutely," Druckman said. "I'm not sure that we can see it so well, but I absolutely believe he does figure in. Faith for Jews but also for Christians is really important with all of the challenges we are facing today."

View Video: CBN News

Netanyahu Blasts Obama Admin for Cursing Him

CBNNews.com

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's under fire because he won't compromise the safety of Israel.


"When there is pressure on Israel to give up on its security, the easiest thing is to give up,"Arutz Sheva quoted Netanyahu's response at the Knesset.


"As prime minister, I stand for the security of Israel," he continued. "The life of every single citizen and soldier matters to me, and I am not prepared to make comprises that will endanger our country."


"Our interests are not on the minds of those who attack us -- or me -- personally," he said. "The attack on me comes because I defend the State of Israel and despite all the attacks, I will continue to defend our country and the citizens of Israel."


He added that he respects and values Israel's relations with the United States.


"The strategic alliance between the countries continues and will continue," he said.


Those were his first public remarks after The Atlantic quoted a senior Obama administration official calling Netanyahu a word that starts with "chicken."


The official told The Atlantic the good thing about Netanyahu was that he was afraid to launch wars, but the bad thing was he won't reach an accommodation with the Palestinian Authority or Sunni Arab states. Another White House official called Netanyahu a coward on a nuclear Iran and said he won't launch a pre-emptive strike.


Israeli Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett called on the Obama administration to "immediately reject these gross comments."


"The prime minister of Israel is not a private person. He is the leader of the Jewish state and the entire Jewish people. Cursing the prime minister and calling him names is an insult not just to him but to the millions of Israeli citizens and Jews across the globe," Bennett wrote.


"The leader of Syria, who slaughtered 150,000 people, was not awarded the name 'chickens---,'" Bennett continued. "Neither was the leader of Saudi Arabia who stones women and homosexuals or the leader of Iran who murders freedom protestors."


"If what appears in the press is true, then it seems that the current U.S. administration is throwing Israel under the bus," Bennett wrote.


"Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East and has been fighting 66 years to survive," he continued.


"Israel is at the forefront of the free world's fight against the Islamic terror of ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran. Instead of attacking Israel and putting it at risk, the world should be strengthening and supporting it."

Relations between Netanyahu and US administration reach new low

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff

RELATED STORIES

• Study: America No Longer 'Needs' Israel
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TOPICS:

America ,  Settlements ,  Netanyahu

The Obama administration's anger, public condemnation and displeasure over Israel's building policies in the settlement blocs and Jerusalem, and the Netanyahu government's open expression of contempt for Obama's understanding of the Middle East, indicate that profound changes in the relationship may be coming.

Recently a senior Obama administration official commented about Netanyahu who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” the official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname.

This comment is representative of the gloves-off manner in which American and Israeli officials now talk about each other, mostly behind closed doors, and is yet another sign that relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments have moved toward a full-blown crisis. The relationship between these two administrations seem to be at their worst ever, and it stands to get significantly worse after the November midterm elections. Analysts are conjecturing that by next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations.

But even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should a conciliatory agreement be reached about the future of Iran's nuclear program by the US administration.

Netanyahu has been reported to have told several people that he has “written off” the Obama administration, and plans to speak directly to Congress and to the American people. For its part, Obama administration officials have expressed, in the words of one official, a “red-hot anger” at Netanyahu for pursuing settlement policies on the West Bank, and building policies in Jerusalem, that they believe have fatally undermined Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace process.

What does this deterioration in relations hold in store for Israel? It may be unsurprising come post the November mid-term elections to see the Obama administration take the gloves off and even publicly laying down the terms for an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians including delineating the two-state solutions borders. This is something that will not go down lightly with the Israeli government. There is an increasing likelihood that the US administration could even withhold defense of Israel against hostile resolutions.

Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering and pompous but no-one has previously described Netanyahu as a “chickenshit.

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The Time Has Come for America to Stand Up

By Caroline Glick July 2, 2014  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

The time has come for our friends to also take action and stop funding and supporting our enemy and his efforts to destroy us.

Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel were teenagers. They were abducted and brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists from Hamas, a partner in the Palestinian Authority’s unity government, and a terrorist organization dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people.

The teens’ abduction and murder was supported by Palestinian society as a whole. While Israelis were united as never before in worry and prayer for the missing boys, Palestinian society was united in its expressed delight at the abduction and murder of the boys.

The government’s response to this war crime, and to the support Palestinian society as a whole provides war criminals while reveling in their atrocities, will be significant. The vast majority of Israelis recognizes that maintaining faith with the mordant peace process can no longer be justified. Fatah and Hamas are equally dedicated to our destruction. By continuing to empower and legitimize the PA, Israel is facilitating its debilitation and victimization.

By legitimizing the PA, Israel has enabled the PA to conduct a massive campaign throughout the world to destroy Israel’s moral, legal and diplomatic standing.

The international community’s indifferent response to the Palestinian abduction of the boys demonstrated how far the Palestinian campaign to deny the legitimacy of Israel and to dehumanize Israelis has advanced.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton took five days to issue a milquetoast condemnation of their abduction. But as execrable as Ashton’s silence was, US President Barack Obama’s response was even worse.

Obama waited for the boys’ bodies to be found before ever mentioning them. And when he finally spoke, he made no distinction between Israel, the victim of this war crime, and the Palestinians who facilitated, perpetrated and celebrated this war crime.

In Obama’s words, “From the outset, I have offered our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice, and I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort. I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation.”

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki’s reaction to the Israel’s discovery of the boys’ bodies was even more offensive than the president’s refusal to draw a distinction between the victim and the perpetrator.

Diminishing the cold-blooded murder of the boys by Palestinian savages to the level of a mere “tragedy,” Psaki said that the cooperation must continue between Israeli security forces and Palestinian terrorists “despite the pain on the ground.”

Not the pain inflicted on Israelis by the Palestinians who kidnapped and murdered and who overwhelmingly supported and celebrated the teens’ abduction and murder. Rather, in Psaki’s world, a general, amorphous “pain on the ground.”

Under questioning by AP reporter Matt Lee, Psaki defended the PA’s Fatah- Hamas government and claimed that its members “are making every effort” to abide by US requirements, including the rejection of violence.

Now it is true that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did once condemn the kidnapping of the teens, and called for his Hamas governing partners to free them. But after he was attacked from all corners of the PA and Palestinian society, he quickly backtracked.

Abbas blamed Israel for the abduction, and accused it of killing “Palestinian teenagers in cold blood.”

It is also true that the media and the Obama administration have repeatedly claimed that PA security forces assisted Israel in locating the teenagers. But if such assistance was provided, it was not helpful. The bodies were found by Israelis, based on intelligence gleaned by Israeli forces in Israeli operations.

So why is the administration pretending otherwise? Obama and Psaki are not motivated primarily by their increasingly apparent antipathy for the Jewish state. They are trying to avoid having to abide by US law.

Standing legislation prohibits the US government from funding foreign terror organizations. Hamas is an officially designated foreign terror organization. If Fatah were ever treated on the basis of its actions, it would also be labeled a foreign terror organization because according to US law, it meets all the criteria for such a designation.

And at any rate, Hamas’s participation in the Palestinian government makes it illegal for the US to transfer any funds or grant any political recognition to the Palestinian government.

Since Obama and Psaki and their colleagues are aware of this fact, they have chosen to lie in order to protect the Hamas-Fatah government from the letter of US law.

This situation is simply unacceptable. The facts are incontrovertible. Thorough the actions of Fatah terrorists and Hamas terrorists, PA is a terrorist organization.

Even if Abbas were sincere in his devotion to peace with Israel – and clearly he is not – he would be nothing more than a figurehead at the top of a governing apparatus, and of a society as a whole that is dedicated to the eradication of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people.

Every year the US gives the PA up to $500 million in aid. At this point, it is impossible to rationally argue that aid to the PA advances the cause of peace, which is supposed to be the point of the aid.

The PA – including Abbas – refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist. The PA denies Jewish nationhood. It fabricates Jewish history. And the PA – led by Abbas – supports, facilitates and engages in terrorism against Israel.

US assistance to the PA is instrumental to Palestinian efforts. The PA uses the legitimacy afforded it by US political and economic support to advance its campaign to delegitimize Israel and legitimize its destruction and the murder of its citizens.

In other words, every dollar the US gives the PA advances the goal of destroying Israel. By continuing to support the PA despite its actions, the US is making a singular contribution to the dehumanization of Jews and the destruction of our state.

Obama’s silence during the 18 days the teens were missing, and his hostile and duplicitous statement after their mutilated bodies were found makes clear that he remains committed to continuing this contribution.

In acting in this way, Obama stands in opposition to the will of the American people, who do not wish to contribute to the destruction of Israel. Consequently, the time has come for the people’s representatives in Congress to take action to remedy this unacceptable state of affairs.

To some extent, Congress already has stepped in. Last week the House of Representatives Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, which is responsible for allocating aid to the PA, did not include aid to the PA in the appropriations bill for 2015. The sub-committee’s counterpart in the Senate took a similar, if less forceful step.

Yet despite these actions, both the House and Senate bills assume that the aid will be restored and so they include stipulations for what Obama must do to waive Congressional limits on aid.

This is very problematic. By assuming that aid will be allocated, US lawmakers take for granted that US law will be broken, and indeed, they green-light such unlawful and repugnant actions.

Immediately after the boys were taken, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Trent Franks co-authored a House resolution defining the PA as a foreign terrorist organization.

As Rep. Franks said on June 12, “All US assistance to the Palestinian Authority should have been be suspended years ago, but openly joining a terrorist organization that kills women and children simply because they are Jewish should convince even the Obama administration to wake up and defund this madness.”

Obviously, the Obama administration remains unconvinced – and undaunted by the resolution, despite the fact that it now enjoys more than a score of co-sponsors, including two Democrats. Obama may continue to fund the PA no matter what Congress does. But only Congress can take action that has a chance of ending US support for the destruction of Israel. If Congress were to transform the language of the Bachmann-Franks resolution into a bill and pass it as a rider on an appropriations bill, then like the Boland Amendment of the 1980s, it could force the executive branch to heel.

The cold-blooded murder of Fraenkel, Shaer and Yifrah requires Israel to stop playing a sucker’s game. The PA is not our partner. It is our enemy.

The US is not our enemy. It is our friend. The American people are our friends.

The time has come for our friends to also take action and stop funding and supporting our enemy and his efforts to destroy us.

Reprinted with author’s permission

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/17510/time-come-america-stand/#GVkydbAPjbAUvEbC.99

About the Author

Caroline Glick made Aliyah to Israel in 1991 and served as a captain in the IDF. She is a former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Caroline covered the US-led war in Iraq as an embedded journalist with the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. She was one of the only female journalists on the front lines with the US forces and the first Israeli journalist to report from liberated Baghdad. Caroline is the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC, is the recipient of numerous awards, and the author of “The Israeli Solution: A One State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu Stands Up to Obama - BIN

Netanyahu Stands Up to Obama

Posted by: Lea Speyer March 4, 2014  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:5-6)

Obama and Netanyahu meet for bilateral talks at the Oval Office, March 3, 2014. 

(Photo: Moshe Milner/ Official Facebook Page of Benjamin Netanyahu)

After private talks at the White House that lasted nearly three hours between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the main messages the United States is sending to Israel is that now is the time to make tough decisions when it comes to peace.

As the deadline for completing the framework peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians fast approaches, Obama stated that he still believes a two state solution is possible.

“It is still possible to create two states, a Jewish state of Israel and a state of Palestine, which people living side by side in peace and security,” Obama said. “But it’s difficult. It requires compromise on all sides.”

Obama praised Netanyahu for taking part in “very lengthy, painstaking negotiations.” Over the last eight months, U.S. brokered negotiations have hit some highs and lows. Obama urged Netanyahu to put Israel’s differences aside when it comes to the Palestinians.

“The time frame that we have set up for completing these negotiations is coming near and some tough decision are going to have to be made,” Obama stated. “But I know that, regardless of the outcome, the prime minister will make those decisions based on his absolute commitment to Israel’s security and his recognition that ultimately Israel’s security will be enhanced by peace with his neighbors.”

Netanyahu did not mince words when it came to responding to Obama, especially after an explosive interview with Bloomberg in which Obama threatened Israel with international isolation.

Netanyahu stated that Israel was doing as much as it could to pursue peace, but the job is made more difficult with a partner that refuses to negotiate and responds with “incessant violence.”

“Twenty years of peace process were marked by many Israeli steps for peace, but we got suicide bombers and rockets in return,” the prime minister explained.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has stated numerous times that the PA would never recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel has consistently maintained that recognition from the PA is a “minimal requirement” for peace.

“Israel has been doing its part, and I regret to say that the Palestinians haven’t,” Netanyahu told Obama. “The people of Israel know that it’s the case. What we want is peace – not a piece of paper.”

Netanyahu urged for “real peace…based on mutual recognition.”

“It’s about time the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state – we have only been there for 4,000 years,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu made it clear that he would never compromise Israel’s security. “The only peace that will endure is a peace that we can defend,” he added.

During the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden were present in the room. Netanyahu thanks Kerry for his “tireless” efforts to broker peace.

“When I say tireless,” Netanyahu joked, “I mean tireless.”

Obama and Netanyahu briefly touched upon the topic of a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu affirmed Israel’s stance that it would never allow the Islamic Republic to obtain the “ability” to acquire nuclear weapons. Obama reassured Netanyahu that Israel has “my absolute commitment that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Click here to watch the meeting between Obama and Netanyahu

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/11754/netanyahu-stands-obama/#bZrCok6sJcfrfLRy.99